General news

• Andy McSmith's Diary: David Cameron, the champion of the Monster Raving Loonies

  26-01-2015 23:45
  
  We all knew that David Cameron was just playing games when he insisted that if Ukip was to be included in any televised debate, the Green Party must be invited too. The Greens were the chaff he was throwing up to disguise his real intention, which is to make sure the debates never happen, because he has nothing to gain from them.
  
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• Turkey orders Facebook to block pages insulting the Prophet Mohamed

  26-01-2015 23:44
  
  A court has threatened to cut off Facebook across Turkey if the US tech giant does not block a number of pages which it believes insult the Prophet Mohamed.
  
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• Sketch: 'Goliath' Ben Emmerson fights back against 'David' Vaz in battle over child sex abuse inquiry

  26-01-2015 23:40
  
  At one point in today’s hearing on the chronic travails of the child sex abuse inquiry its counsel, Ben Emmerson, suggested a little cheekily that Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz’s clerks could show him where the QC’s duties as a “facilitator” of the panel’s meetings in the all-too-painful absence of a chairman were detailed on the inquiry’s website.
  
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• Microsoft profit slips slightly

  26-01-2015 23:36
  
  Technology giant Microsoft saw its operating profit fall slightly in the final quarter of 2014.
  
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• Home health checks plan for elderly

  26-01-2015 23:36
  
  Vulnerable elderly people in England could be offered safety checks to identify health risks in their homes, under a Labour plan to cut the cost of unnecessary admissions to hospitals.
  
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• Fracking ban in national parks

  26-01-2015 23:27
  
  Ministers have agreed an outright ban on fracking in national parks and accepted Labour proposals for tougher regulation but blocked backbench calls for a moratorium on shale gas extraction.
  
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• Racism Allegations In Football Treble: Review

  26-01-2015 23:21
  
  The number of alleged incidents of racism and other discrimination in football trebled last season, according to a Football Association review. The three-fold increase was described as "worrying" by FA director Heather Rabbatts. She told Sky News that reporting incidents of discrimination was essential to retaining the confidence of players and spectators from black and minority ethnic communities. The last year has seen the FA deal with high-profile discrimination cases involving Nico
  
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• UK general election: Miliband and Cameron neck and neck in fight for voters' trust on NHS

  26-01-2015 23:12
  
  The NHS will matter more to people than the economy when they decide how to vote in the general election 100 days from today, according to a poll for The Independent.
  
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• Broadchurch series 2, episode 4, review: Pauline Quirke returns to give baffling plot a kick

  26-01-2015 23:00
  
  We’re four weeks into Broadchurch's big return and still nobody knows why bluebells are so crucial to the ever-more-bewildering plot.
  
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• Inside Travel: Greece 2015 Q&A - should we cancel our Greek holiday? Are our flights safe? And what will we be spending there?

  26-01-2015 22:49
  Q: We have a city break in Athens booked for Valentine’s weekend. Can we/should we cancel? A: While the next few weeks and months are likely to be tumultuous for the Greek people, the vast majority of tourists will be unaffected - just as they have since the crisis began.
  
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• US cracks alleged Russian spy ring in New York

  26-01-2015 22:39
  
  In a sharp reminder that the Cold War seems never to have died, US authorities announced tonight the cracking of a clandestine Russian spy ring that had been operating in New York City to gather intelligence on potential US sanctions against Moscow and other US economic interests.
  
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• Jeffrey Sterling case: Court convicts CIA operative of leaking classified information to New York Times journalist James Risen

  26-01-2015 22:35
  A former CIA officer had been convicted of leaking classified details of an operation to thwart Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions to an American journalist.
  
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• Murder charge after man goes missing

  26-01-2015 22:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man is charged with murder following the disappearance of another man from his home in West Lothian.
  
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• More private students get state loans

  26-01-2015 22:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Taxpayers financing £675m in loans to students at private colleges, new figures reveal
  
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• Greece elections: New Greek PM takes aim at 'neo-liberal' Europe as country gears up for prolonged austerity battle

  26-01-2015 22:14
  
  The radical left leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece today after the decisive victory of his Syriza party over establishment parties supporting the European Union programme that has impoverished so many Greeks.
  
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• Greece elections: New coalition ready and determined to do battle – carefully – with EU over austerity

  26-01-2015 22:14
  
  The radical left leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece today after the decisive victory of his Syriza party over establishment parties supporting the European Union programme that has impoverished so many Greeks.
  
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• Passport art to go on show

  26-01-2015 22:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Aboriginal painting from Australian passport comes to London
  
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• VIDEO: Clumsy Lineker's FA Cup draw antics

  26-01-2015 22:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Match of the Day's Gary Lineker drops a ball during the rehearsal of the fifth round FA Cup draw on The One Show.
  
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• New York Juno storm: Rare 'thundersnow' blizzard could break all records

  26-01-2015 22:07
  
  Snow started falling heaving on Monday afternoon as the US northeast braced for a potentially historic blizzard that could derail transportation and create problems for millions of people. The storm, named Juno, could dump as much as three feet of snow overnight and experts have warned it could be powerful enough to create thundersnow – a rare occurrence of when a snow storm is combined with thunder and lightening
  
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• Tom DeLonge leaves Blink-182 'indefinitely'

  26-01-2015 22:05
  
  Blink-182 fans are likely playing I Miss You on a loop tonight, as guitarist and co-vocalist Tom DeLonge has announced he is leaving the pop-punk band "indefinitely".
  
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• Vaccine price cut pledge not enough, critics tell Pfizer

  26-01-2015 22:00
  
  Pharmaceutical firm offering to cut price of vaccine against pneumococcal disease by 20 cents a doseThe pharmaceutical company Pfizer has pledged to cut the price of its new vaccine against a deadly disease by 6%, but campaigners say the reduction is nowhere near enough.Last week Médecins Sans Frontières called for a reduction of the price of the vaccine against pneumococcal disease to $5 (£3.30) per child, claiming the two companies manufacturing it were making large profits
  
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• High cholesterol clue to heart risk

  26-01-2015 22:00
  
  Raised cholesterol in healthy young adults can herald heart disease in later life, scientists have warned.
  
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• Tories forced into U-turn on fast-track fracking after accepting Labour plans

  26-01-2015 21:57
  
  Proposals ban drilling in national parks, areas of outstanding national beauty and areas of drinking water collectionThe government made a major U-turn on plans to fast-track UK fracking yesterday after accepting Labour proposals to tighten environmental regulations.David Cameron had previously said the government was “going all out” for shale gas development, but widespread public concern and a looming defeat by worried Tory and Lib Dem backbenchers forced ministers to back down. Continue r
  
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• Rochdale v Stoke City: FA Cup fourth round – live!

  26-01-2015 21:55
  
  FA Cup fourth round updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off at SpotlandFA Cup fifth round draw: Middlesbrough travel to ArsenalEmail [email protected] or tweet @John_Ashdown 8.47pm GMT Peep! PEEEP! And they are an incident-free couple of minutes. 8.45pm GMT 45 min: The impressive Camps breaks forward from midfield but can only scuff his shot at Butland. And, showing just what I know, there’ll be a minimum of two minutes added time. 8.43pm GMT 43 min: Done gets into the right channel yet
  
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• WikiLeaks threatens legal action against Google and US after email revelations

  26-01-2015 21:54
  
  Google handed over WikiLeaks staffers’ emails to the FBIWikiLeaks notified warrants were served two and a half years laterWikiLeaks is escalating its war against both Google and the US government, threatening legal action the day after demanding answers for the tech giant’s wholesale handover of its staffers’ Gmail contents to US law enforcement.The targets of the investigation were not notified until two and a half years after secret search warrants were issued and served by the FBI, lega
  
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• Fracking u-turn 'recognises risks'

  26-01-2015 21:53
  
  Government concessions on fracking show the "monolithic consensus" on the issue is crumbling, Greenpeace has claimed.
  
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• Alabama appeals ruling that overturned same-sex marriage ban

  26-01-2015 21:40
  
  Federal judge puts temporary hold on her decision to allow gay marriages in the state, but says she won’t wait for US supreme court to decideAlabama on Monday began the process of appealing a federal judge’s decision that overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage – a decision that was put on hold to allow time for the appeal.At least two same-sex couples sought and were refused marriage licenses because of the delay, officials said, but there were no reports of widespread problems
  
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• Greece elections: Spanish left hails Syriza victory as a ‘sun of hope and democracy’

  26-01-2015 21:33
  
  As Spain gears up for a crucial year of national, local and regional elections, its increasingly popular anti-austerity party Podemos has celebrated the victory of Syriza in Greece by pouring scorn on those “who thought it represented the apocalypse”.
  
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• Steven Spielberg’s speech to Holocaust survivors in Krakow – full text

  26-01-2015 21:29
  
  The Schindler’s List director addressed dozens of Auschwitz survivors on eve of 70th anniversary of camp’s liberationI want to thank the many survivors along with their family members for being here this evening to share this moment with you. [It’s] incredibly meaningful for all of us and it’s a great great honour for me in so many personal ways. After 53,000 of you gave to our foundation your stories of life and death I feel like I belong to each and every one of you. We all feel that w
  
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• Greece elections: Syriza’s triumph a blow for Germany but Greeks warned not to delude themselves over EU debt

  26-01-2015 21:27
  
  Greece’s landslide leftist election victory was seen in Germany as a humiliating defeat for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her eurozone austerity regime yesterday. But her government remained adamant that the new Athens coalition would have to stick to the European Union’s savings programme.
  
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• Russia downgraded to junk status for first time in decade

  26-01-2015 21:26
  
  S&P says downgrade caused by reduced flexibility to cut interest rates and weakening of financial system as oil price dropsRussia has been downgraded to junk status for the first time in a decade due to the collapsing oil price, the tumbling value of the rouble and sanctions imposed because of its intervention in Ukraine.Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said the downgrade was caused by the country’s reduced flexibility to cut interest rates and a weakening of the financial system. Co
  
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• Hershey's angers US chocolate purists by forcing company to stop importing 'yummy' Cadbury bars

  26-01-2015 21:25
  
  America’s chocolate connoisseurs are suffering a collective sweet-toothache after the chocolate manufacturer Hershey’s reached an agreement with a US food import company that will force several beloved British chocolate products off American shelves.
  
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• Benedict Cumberbatch apologises after calling black actors 'coloured'

  26-01-2015 21:22
  
  Oscar nominee says he was an ‘idiot’ to use the phrase - ironically in a discussion about the lack of opportunities for non-white actorsBenedict Cumberbatch has apologised after referring to black actors as “coloured” during an interview on US televisision, saying he is “devastated” to have caused offence.The Sherlock actor said he was “an idiot” after he used the phrase during a debate, ironically about the diversity problems that black British actors face in the UK compared to
  
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• Girlfriend dressing: how guys are learning to borrow from the girls

  26-01-2015 21:21
  
  Boyfriend blazers, boyfriend jeans – they’re two-a-penny in womenswear. From jewellery to heels to skirts, this autumn the boys will be borrowing from the girlsEveryone knows boyfriend dressing – baggy jeans, longer line T-shirts, mannish brogues. But girlfriend dressing – men borrowing from womenswear? That’s new, and it’s on the menswear catwalk. Here are five examples of how men will be pilfering from their girlfriends’ closets come autumn. Continue reading...
  
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• Apple set to beat expectations

  26-01-2015 21:19
  
  Apple will exceed expectations when it announces its quarterly results for the final three months of 2014 tomorrow, according to industry analysts.
  
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• Charlie Hebdo: Cartoonists celebrate free speech in new 'Draw the Line Here' book

  26-01-2015 21:16
  
  On Wednesday 7 January, Dave Brown, The Independent's political cartoonist since 1996, awoke at 6am as he does every morning. He put on BBC Radio 4's Today programme and listened to it in bed. He then moved downstairs, where he read the papers online while BBC News 24 played in the background. The main story of the day was that Angela Merkel was in London to talk with David Cameron, and Brown, having discussed it with his editors, set to work on a cartoon about the pair meeting.
  
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• Benedict Cumberbatch apologises for ‘coloured actors’ comment

  26-01-2015 21:12
  
  Benedict Cumberbatch has apologised after talking about “coloured actors” on US television, saying he had been “an idiot” and was “devastated to have caused offence”.
  
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• FA Cup fifth round draw: Middlesbrough to visit holders Arsenal

  26-01-2015 21:12
  
  • Bradford will take on Sunderland or Fulham after win over Chelsea
  • If Liverpool win replay Crystal Palace await themBradford City and Middlesbrough have been rewarded for their eye-catching victories at the Premier League’s top two, with both potentially given a further opportunity to take top-flight scalps following the draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup.Phil Parkinson’s City, the League One side who triumphed so startlingly at Chelsea on Saturday in one of the greatest shocks
  
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• Homeless Veterans appeal: ‘So many wounded soldiers are being discharged who need help’

  26-01-2015 21:07
  
  A soldier who suffered life-changing leg injuries during her military service has told of her battle to find a home while awaiting major surgery.
  
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• Labour’s right: 16-year-olds should get the vote, and 10-year-olds, too

  26-01-2015 21:00
  
  Ed Miliband’s party has accidentally come up with a good idea. But why stop at 16-year-olds? We should also let younger children cast their ballotsStop all the clocks, hold the phone, shoot the dog, etc, the Labour party has actually said something sensible. It wants to lower the voting age. Good. Give young people a democratic stake in the system that pays them minimum wage to clean up the old people who made such a mess of everything. It’s an uncomplicated idea, for once unprompted by a To
  
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• British support for EU membership grows, despite Ukip popularity

  26-01-2015 21:00
  
  Public support for British membership of the EU has increased in the past year despite the growing popularity of Ukip, according to a report to be published tomorrow.
  
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• How to survive election fever: From 100-day diets to watching a solar eclipse

  26-01-2015 20:59
  
  Here’s a thought that’ll make you want to curl up into a corner: there are 100 days until the general election.
  
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• Africa Cup of Nations: DR Congo v Tunisia and Cape Verde v Zambia – as it happened!

  26-01-2015 20:54
  
  Tunisia finished top of group B, while DR Congo join them in the quarter-finals after they drew 1-1 in Bata and Cape Verde played out o scoreless draw with Zambia 7.54pm GMT So that’s it for group B: after 90 minutes of average fare in Bata and a dreadful game hampered by the conditions in Ebebiyin, Congo will take on DR Congo while the hosts, Equatorial Guinea will face Tunisia in the quarter-finals. Thanks for reading. Bye! 7.52pm GMT And it’s also over in Bata, where both sides go through
  
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• Kurdish forces take control of Syrian town of Kobani

  26-01-2015 20:53
  
  Monitoring group says YPG forces proceeding carefully in eastern outskirts where Isis planted mines before fleeingA coalition of Kurdish and Syrian opposition forces claimed full control of Kobani on Monday, gaining an important symbolic victory over militants of Islamic State (Isis) who had besieged the Syrian-Kurdish city since September.The victory marks a significant loss for Isis. The extremists’ hopes for an easy victory when they pushed into the town less than a mile from the Turkish bo
  
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• Oklahoma asks US Supreme Court to delay executions

  26-01-2015 20:51
  
  The US Supreme Court could delay executions in one state as it prepares to decide if lethal injections constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
  
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• Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Dodo the Pimp, and the Carlton Hotel: France's major trial of 2015

  26-01-2015 20:49
  
  The Carlton Hotel in Lille is a staid-looking fourstar off Grand Place, the raciness of its panelled lobby bar restricted to a list of malt whiskies and some sporting prints. Whatever possessed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then IMF boss and French presidential hopeful, a globe-hopping sophisticate with women from Bangkok to Brasilia within range, to go in search of nookie in this dull hostelry in the French equivalent of Newcastle upon Tyne?
  
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• Saturday man Paul Nicholls hopes to keep run going with Irish Saint

  26-01-2015 20:47
  
  • Trainer has had at least one Saturday winner for three months
  • Prize money total is almost double that of Nicky HendersonIrish Saint will lead Paul Nicholls’ team into action this weekend as the champion jumps trainer attempts to extend an unbroken run of success he has enjoyed this winter. Nicholls has had at least one winner every Saturday since the core jumps season began at the start of November, a sequence that has now extended to 13 weeks and given him a healthy lead in the latest
  
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• New laws to protect those cashing in pension pots

  26-01-2015 20:47
  
  Risk warnings to be issued detailing long-term consequences of taking money out of retirement programmes earlyThe financial regulator is rushing in new rules aimed at protecting people keen to cash in their pension pots from making bad decisions that could cost them dearly later on.Under the new regime outlined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), pension providers will be required to question older people about their personal circumstances including health, “lifestyle choices”, and mar
  
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• Fracking 'Moratorium' Rejected By MPs

  26-01-2015 20:46
  
  A rebel amendment to the Infrastructure Bill demanding a moratorium on fracking has been heavily defeated in the House of Commons. The clause, backed by the chair of the Environmental Audit Committee Joan Walley MP, along with Lib Dem and Labour MPs, had proposed that fracking should be "discontinued" until an "independent assessment" was carried out. A Labour front bench amendment, which proposed a list of conditions before fracking can take place, was also accepted by the G
  
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• Thatcher statue made famous after being beheaded now tucked away in the ‘perfect setting’

  26-01-2015 20:46
  
  Some things, you might assume, are easy to find. A once-decapitated 8ft-tall two-ton marble statue of Lady Thatcher, for example. 
  
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